Positive Attendance – students sign in or scan their ID – was introduced as a homeroom test run last spring but put in for every class in August. 

Nearly two months into using it, there have been some ups and downs.

“Mine’s been fine,” math teacher Daniel Allan said. “I know there’s been a few hiccups on the Skyward end, but kids have been checking in, checking out pretty well.” 

Science teacher Hayley Hutchinson agreed.

“I feel like Positive Attendance will be beneficial once all the kinks are worked out,” she said.

But there have been issues. 

“The first two days (of school), my machine was not working… So I had to have the district replace my old one,” math teacher Jonathan Craft said. “Students have been getting more comfortable with actually coming and punching the key in… It makes attendance quicker to actually do on my end.” 

Students’ opinions of Positive Attendance are mixed.

“I think the machines might not be the best answer to the problem of skipping class, but they are doing a decent enough job,” senior Landen Tucker said. “I think the school continuously making sure everybody has IDs is going to definitely help the issue of checking in, and also potentially extending the passing period to six minutes for those who get stuck in ginormous lines.” 

Senior Andrew NcNutt agreed.

“If you come in on time and the buzzer rings, you type it in, and it counts you tardy. Some teachers don’t fix it because they don’t double-check or anything. I’ve gotten five tardies from me being here on time, so it’s kind of annoying. I wish it was just how it used to be, but sometimes it’s good.”  

The machines are designed to help keep track of where students are. For instance, they sign out of class to go to the restroom and then sign back in when they return. They sign out for a trip to the nurse, sign in at the nurse, sign out, sign back in at class.

The biggest help is on movement days in homeroom. In case of emergency, students can be found if they have checked into another homeroom.

“Each of the devices are connected to our WiFi. They’re assigned a device code in Skyward that’s programmed in the device,” said Nick Jones, who works in technology. “So when you scan your badge, it processes that as your student ID, as well as that device ID, up to Skyward

“It looks for that device ID and says ‘Hey, is this student supposed to be in this room?’ If so, it checks attendance.”